andres14oj

I havent done much to this project. My little bro wrecked his s13 and we've been working on a new shell all summer long, it's all down to the paint job now, but it's all good 'cause it should do me good as practice for my 280 paint job haha, plus i'll master my paint booth... also, the rb25 stock turbo blew up on my s14, so after finishing with the s13, before going back to 280, I gotta get my s14 (daily) back on the road, but it aint going back to the road in stock form anymore, ohhhh no, upgrade parts for the 25 are starting to pile up, and what a decoration they make But even with everything going on i have found a few hours to spend on the 280. So i couldnt resist any more and had to weld the roll bar in place haha, not just for the joy of seeing it installed, but also to give a bit more stiffness to the chassis before continuing with all the stitch welding, reducing the chances of welding a twisted chassis. But oh boy do i love finally seeing it welded on! i also sand blasted and painted my header with vht paint. I also took my radiator to my workplace to have it re-done. It was actually leaking from one of the lines on the edges, so i decided to remove both tanks, cancel all 6 lines on the edges from the inside re-enforcing the core at the same time, rod it, strip the tanks, put back together and paint. I'll post pics of that later, should probably be done tomorrow.

always good to know there are s30's out there being brought back to life, especially earlier ones. Hows rust? btw, that paint job's looking great!

i havent used the spray gun on this one, the quick tries i've done have been covered up with spray cans since they're just little spots that i'll end up redoing enyway, permanent paint will be spray with a gun using my 80 gallon compressor. The por 15 i used on the stitch welds was applied with a brush real quick, im still debating on wheter i should use por15 on the stitches only, or stitches and entire undercarriage only, or or stitches and undercarriage and engine bay only, and if i do i would spray it with the gun, that is one of the reasons i aint making too much progress yet, still not sure, i just didnt wanna leave the stitches to corrode without protection.

i havent got any sheet metal to repair those rusted panels I did finish my painting/sand blasting booth and today i started stitch welding: i decided to go with the inch on inch off: sand blasted again and apply por-15 on the welds since it will be sometime before i primer it

cut out the passenger side quarter panel end, not much rust inthere, lucky. Im also finally getting the hamg out of my cheap harbor freight portable sand blaster, gotta say, im really excited about it! i also started working on my painting booth. It will be a "drop down" paint booth, four curtains, 20'x11', wood frame on the bottom, strings and pulleys mechanism. should be able to go up and down since i will be working on different areas at a time with days in between and i cant have it on the way.

dont get me wrong, i spend most of my spare time doing research on all the topics of my interest such as this. i have found a few good threads including a couple in this site, one in which someone mentions the importance of rust prevention afterwards. the thing is that almost not one talks about this on any other thread, yes they talk about the different techniques to stitch and seam weld, the most important areas to weld, preparation and so on. But my main concern would be rust prevention afterwards. One thing that i also found very interesting is the leveling of the car before u start stitch welding, otherwise u may end up welding it crooked haha. But dont worry, i've been on the forums for long enough to understand how flaming works, im not just running off to another forum asking to be spoon fed.

finally got to do some cutting, but what fun is cutting if there isnt any more cutting needed underneath? haha i cut out the lower panel on the hatch frame, u know, the one that always rusts, just to find more rust underneath righ above the driver side tail light... had to cut out a little piece of sheet about 3x6 extended. After replacing that piece i am ready to weld the pre-made panel: also started cutting the rocker panel ends, just to find more rust underneath.... i wired brushed as much as i could and primered it for the time being just so it doesnt rust, we all know how fast that stuff is... so, I am thinking about stitch welding my entire chassis since im already in this deep. I mentioned before how this car will be track inspired, mainly because i do plan on tracking it on the future. Im looking for information about this process, mainly about rust protection on the after process. Can anybody in here give me some insight? I read a few old threads where members recommend to go to hbz with questions of this kind, though i give it a try here first.

yeah, i estimated it would take me about a year to finish this project. I just hope it doesnt take any longer.

mo way this is going to waste, is it guys? hows the rust?

so i gave the needle scaler a try. It does work, much faster than scraper and heat gun, but it leaves the surface very rough. I only spent around 2 hours using the scaler and was able to remove most of the undercoating on the passenger side. The good thing about it is that it gets in hard to reach areas and it also removes old body sealer. i also removed most sound deadening inside using dry ice, a light hammer and a flat head screw driver, unfortunately i ran out of ice...

we're in the same boat bud, except im in no hurry. I just keep checking my local junkyards every other weekend hoping to get lucky. 78's are only compatible with 77's, am i right? Anyway, good luck with your find.

So much metal work in this thread, i know for sure i would have passed on such a big project. I respect what u are doing here man. And i didnt know about the hatch frame draining solution, will have to do the same to mine, thanks for the tip. Im also impressed at how fast you're progressing with it, really wish i could move just as fast. Let me guess, you dont drink? Or at least not very often? Haha Anyway, looking good man!

started removing the undercoating. Heat gun and spatula, hard work... Was able to remove most of it under the passenger floor pan/frame rail, everything looks pretty good, no surprises under there. Has anybody used a needlegun scaler to remove old undercoating on s30's? I read that this is about the best method on some other forums, may just have to pick one up. Oh yeah, i also got to paint my rotisserie haha

so i am kind of at a stand still. Got it almost completely stripped, just have to get the windshield removed-for which i am planning on bringing an expert/pro to do-and maybe a few other details like brackets and other small stuff. Got all the lines removed, brake and fuel lines, and im trying to decide how to fix them since i think some of them might be clogged up. I was originally thinking about heating them up with a torch but that may affect the metal strength, so now i am not sure. Doubt 175psi would help, I least i know that didnt completely take care of my fuel return line. But it's still a few months before i have to install those so i still have plenty of time to think about something. I took care of most of my right side rear quarter panel, down to the bare metal. Found some bondo on the lower area on the very back, but it's very little so im not too worried, probably a small dent repair many many years ago. I painted over the bare metal with a spray can primer which i am planning on sanding down again to repaint when i get a real gun a good primer. Kind of a temporarily thing to do just so i can advance on the project and dont get my bare metal rusted. But i have decided to stop until i get the gun and the primer that way i avoid the extra work of removing the temporary primer. Anybody's got any tips with stripping the paint on hard to reach edges? Especially on the undercarriage. I am planning on getting a sand blaster, mostly to use it on the interior, but is there any other method? I was thinking about paint stripper but im afraid that **** may end up dripping and getting inside unreachable places where i wont be able to clean up afterwards causing more problems than helping. I also adjusted the car one inch higher on the rotisserie and now it's real easy to flip it, a one man job now. Here's a few pix, again, sorry for night pictures, cant say anything about quality 'cause they'll always be cell pictures haha: I did finish my new intercooler set up on my rb too